Thursday Practice Report

• No. 17 Florida State held its final practice in helmets and shorts on Thursday (September 21) in preparation of Saturday's 3:30 p.m. contest against Rice on ESPNU.

• Both the offense and defense worked against the scout teams for the entire practice.

• Quarterbacks Drew Weatherford and Xavier Lee worked in with the first-team offense.

• Cornerback Tony Carter had an interception during goal line.

• Neefy Moffett, Kevin McNeil and Roger Williams had pass breakups.

• The No. 1 offense finished the day with a two-minute drill.

QUOTES Head Coach Bobby Bowden
(On practice this week): "Thank goodness, we have had a good compete week of practice. There is no reason for us not to go out and execute better than we did. So I think our kids will be ready to play anyway, we just have to go out and execute."

(On moving people around the defensive line due to injuries): "That is football for you. Football is a daggum contact sport. People get hurt. You just have to hope you have reserves that can go in there and play and pick up the slack and maybe become a hero."

(On Xavier Lee): "I sure want him in there. I don't know what we will do about it but we are going to sit in the morning and have our meeting about what we are going to do. I sure want to see him play. I think he had a pretty good week of practice."

(How important is it for the team's confidence to win soundly on Saturday?): "You have to keep in mind that you have to win first, just win, win, win. You can not be thinking about, let's beat them bad, then you start to struggle. It would help though, it definitely would help. We need it."

RB Matt Dunham
(On getting playing time against Rice): "I just have to stay mentally focused on what I do out at practice because that will reflect on the playing time."

(Do you know how much you will play?): "Coach (Billy) Sexton told us that we are going to rotate in and out on every other series."

DE Everette Brown
(How did you find out that you were starting?): "Yesterday during meetings coach (Jody) Allen came in and told me I was starting and from there that was a plus to me. I have been practicing with the starting defense a whole lot, even my true freshman year so I feel like I fit right in because that is what I am used to."

(On getting the opportunity to start): "I always believe that everything starts in practice. If you can show it in practice than you can definitely do it in the game. We have a good team so it is competitive out there so it isn't like we are going against a scout team offense. When you are able to get out there and make plays, the coaches are going to see it and they are going to trust you."